The Road Not Traveled
by Tenshi Chupip
Summary: What if Neal had made a different choice the night August told him to leave Emma behind?


**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own anything related to Once Upon A Time**

**Chapter One**

"No."

August's eyebrows furrowed together. Surely he had not heard this man correctly.

"No?" he asked, unfolding his arms. "What do you mean no?"

"Just what I said," the dark eyed man glared fiercely at August. "Now get back on your bike, take your damn typewriter and leave us alone."

August sighed heavily. He had expected to meet some resistance from Baelfire but he had hoped that by now in the conversation he'd of seen reason. This was for Emma's own good.

"You can't honestly tell me that you think this life is what is best for her?" August asked. "A life a crime and constantly being on the run? That's not a life for a princess, certainly not a life for the savior. You have to think about Emma's well being, Baelfire."

The man in question snorted, "Alright first off, don't call me that, my name is Neal. Secondly, if you're worried about this bonnie and clyde act don't be. This is our last stunt then we're settling down. You're right, Man, I do love her. More than you or she could possibly know. So what in the hell make you think would I do this to her? Let her take the fall for something I did, then skip out on her life like she meant nothing to me? How can any of that possibly be good for Emma's well being!?"

"If she goes to jail she will get a dose of reality and it will take her off the path of being a thief and criminal."

"Has your brain turned back to wood already? I just said we're stopping! We don't want this life anymore, we want each other, and house and maybe a frickin' dog, I don't know!" Neal threw his hands up in the air in frustration. He did not have time for this, he needed to get rid of the watches so they could get the hell out of town and get far, far, FAR away from all of this. Neal stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned. "You're wasting my time. I have stuff to do before we leave. Was nice meeting you, Blockhead. Don't stay in touch."

August mouth hung open as he watched Baelfire's retreating back and snarled. No! He had already failed once, he was not going to fail again!

"If you don't do this I make sure they find you and arrest you for those watches!" he shouted at Baelfire's back. "I'll make sure Emma never goes near you again, Baelfire! What do you think she'll do or say if I tell her who you really are? Who your father is?"

Neal froze in place and weighed his options carefully before he slowly turned back around and marching straight up to August. He grabbed the man roughly by the lapels of his jacket.

"Listen up, Blockhead, and listen good," he snarled. "I don't care if you know who I am or who my father is. I slightly cared about your damn curse up until you threatened us just now, but not anymore, and I sure as hell don't give a lousy shit if you try and turn me over to the cops for those watches… I am _not_ abandoning Emma. I'll turn myself in first before I let you talk me into leaving her."

With that Neal shoved August hard enough to throw him to the ground and stormed off as fast as he could. He had to get back to Emma and he had to get back to her fast. He had a feeling this guy wasn't going to let this rest. Creepy ass puppet.

It didn't take him long to fence the watches and find his was back to their meet up spot. He knew the second she spotted him because the largest smile lit her face up. God but he would go to the ends of the earth for that smile. She all but ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I missed you," she cooed into the side of his neck. "Everything go ok?"

"Not as smoothly as I would have preferred but what ya gonna do about it?" he shrugged with a lopsided grin.

Emma frowned, "What happened?"

Neal sighed, half truths were still kinda truths right? "I ran into an old buddy of mine. Not my best of choices in friends. He tried to talk me into some kind of business venture."

"What kind of business venture?" the blond asked, slipping her hand smoothly into his and they began walking down the parking area.

"Doesn't matter," Neale glared at the ground. "It would have involved letting you take the fall for the watches." _And that's happening over my dead body_, he thought to himself.

"What an asshat!" Emma wrinkled her nose like she smelled something foul. "You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"

"Never," Neal said softly as he wrapped his arms around Emma's small frame and held her close. "I would never turn on you like that."

Emma relaxed into Neal's embrace. She knew he wouldn't, there was just always the worry in the back of her mind that Neal was too good of a thing in her life to stick around. Nothing good ever stuck around, although he did have a pretty decent track record at this point. He hadn't lied to her yet so maybe this life they planned on putting together was actually going to happen.

"FREEZE!"

She spoke to soon. The happy picture Emma had built in her head of she and Neal decorating their new apartment shattered into a million pieces as half a dozen police officer poured out from behind the pillars lining the walk way. She should have known better than to think she was allowed to have happiness.

"Put your hands in the air, Cassidy!" shouted a cop from the end of the street.

Neal swore under his breath as he and Emma were suddenly swarmed by cops.

Emma shirked in pain as one officer grabbed her roughly from behind, "Neal!"

"Hey! HEY! GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!" Neal struggled against the man who had his arms pinned behind his back. "She's got nothing to do with this!"

The cop handcuffing Emma snorted, "The giant shiny watch on her wrist says differently, Cassidy."

Neal all but groaned. Why had he been so smug as to put one of the watches on her? Why hadn't he insisted she take it off the second he saw her? Stupid, STUPID, Cassidy!

"Neal Cassidy, you are under arrest for theft and the destruction of private property. Emma Swan, you are under arrest for aiding and embedding a wanted felon."

"Neal!" Emma gave Neal a pleading terrified look as she was ushered into a near by squad car.

"It'll be ok, Emma!" he shouted as another officer forced his head down to shove him into a separate car. "It'll be ok!"

… - … - …

It wasn't going to be ok. Emma stared hard at the white stick in her hand. The tiny pink plus sign stared back at her almost mockingly. This couldn't possibly be happening…. But this was the fourth test she had taken and they all came up the same. All positive. Nothing was ever going to be ok again.

She was pregnant…. _PREGNANT!_

The thought alone made her stomach turn over. This could not have been a worse time. Neal was in jail, at the very least for another fourteen months, longer if he didn't behave himself, and she was living in a half way house because the car got seized during the trial. He swore that once he got out they would be together and have everything they ever wanted but still, that was at least a year and half away. Emma couldn't stop the tears that started pouring down her cheeks.

Why? Why now? Why not in two years when she and Neal were in Tallahassee and settled in with jobs, an apartment and a new car? At least then they would have had someplace to even put this baby! Emma kicked the bathroom stall door hard, trying to get her tears under control. For not the first time in the last two months she desperately wished Neal was here.

Neal had immediately confessed to everything and said he would cooperate with the investigation on the terms that Emma would go free. The judge they had must have been feeling merciful or something that day because due to it being Emma's first offence, she granted the request. Under the agreement Emma was sentenced to two hundred hours of community service. She could live with that, and so Emma had spent the last two months doing the time serving at a children's hospital. Actually her community service had ended two weeks ago but she kept coming back to help out. Emma hadn't realized before just how much she actually enjoyed taking care of people that couldn't take of themselves. Must have been something she picked up while in foster care. God knows there was more than a time or two where she ended up defending a foster sibling. The hospital was where she was now, bunked down in a bathroom stall on her break with a handful of stolen pregnancy tests laughing at her and her poor life choices.

A soft knock on the stall door just about made Emma fall into the toilet she was sitting on.

"Emma, Darlin? You ok, Sugar?"

Emma sighed in relief. It was only Marybeth.

Marybeth was a nurse on the ward Emma had been assigned to assist when she was brought in by her parole officer two months ago. The kindly older woman had almost immediately taken a shin to Emma, claiming she reminded her of her youngest daughter. Bad attitude and all she teased. Marybeth was in her mid-fifties and had wisps of gray woven through out her thick dark hair. Emma tried to find something about the woman to dislike, she didn't want to risk becoming friendly with anyone while she was stuck here. People always left you to fall on your face. Or at least that was what she tried to make herself believe. But something about the older lady's laughing blue eyes, deep southern accent and the fact that she purposefully packed enough food in her lunch everyday to make sure Emma had something to eat as well, eventually drew the stubborn blond firmly under Marybeth's protective and loving wing. The woman treated her like family and that wasn't something she was use to.

"Honey, open the door," Marybeth knocked again. "You've been in here for half an hour, I'm startin' to worry bout you."

Emma sighed and slowly unlatched the door and walked out. Marybeth frowned at her red tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes.

"What's wrong, Baby? Tell Miss Marybeth what happened. Was it Ricky again? Is that little twerp still pesterin' you for a date?"

Emma shook her head, not trusting her voice, and simply handed the pregnancy test to Marybeth. The older woman stared at it for only half a second before shrieking in delight and gathering Emma up into a giant bone crushing hug.

"Oh Emma, how wonderful! You are going to be the perfect mother!"

"How can you say that!" Emma exclaimed, detaching herself from what was obviously a crazy person. "I'm a criminal! No one will hire me, I don't even have a car let alone a real place to live! I can't raise a baby in a halfway house! How the hell am I going to take care of a kid?!"

Marybeth just smiled and gave Emma another hug, "Honey, God doesn't give you gifts when you think you should have them, he gives them to you when you need them."

"I don't NEED a kid, I need a job!"

"Have you told Neal?"

That made Emma go completely still. Oh god how was she going to tell Neal? What was he going to say? Did he ever want kids? Would he tell her to get rid of it? Emma shuddered. She couldn't do that, even if he asked her too. She loved him more than anything but she'd give it away before getting rid of it. Its not like he could stop her either way, Neal wasn't able for parole until next year. Marybeth knew this, as she was the only person Emma would talk to about Neal.

"I… I just found out myself," she said quietly.

Marybeth just nodded and beckoned Emma to follow her. Making sure to throw away the tests first, Emma followed her out of the bathroom and over to the desks where the nurses sat.

"Laura Honey, I'm taking the rest of the day off," Marybeth said to the nurse next to her as she bent down to pick up her purse and lunch bag.

A redhead that looked to be in her mid twenties, glanced up from her computer and medical charts with a confused expression. "What? Why? Whats wrong?"

"Just feeling a little under the weather," she waved the younger nurse off. "I'm gonna drop Emma off on my way home."

Laura just shrugged went back to her medical charts, "Ok, feel better."

Marybeth led Emma out of the hospital and into the parking deck where they climbed into her station wagon and she started the engine. By this point Emma was just completely confused. What in the hell was the crazy old bat doing? She didn't have to give Marybeth directions to where she was staying, the older woman had dropped her off once or twice before, but it didn't make sense as to why they were going there now. As Marybeth pulled the car into a meter parking space she looked at Emma.

"Go in there and get your things, then check out and come back here," she said simply.

"Why?" Emma asked skeptically.

Marybeth gave Emma a stern look. It wasn't a mean look, just a stern loving one. Emma wondered if this was the look a mother gave their child when they were misbehaving. "Because you're right, Darlin, you can't raise a baby in a place like this," Marybeth started. "_You_ shouldn't even be in a place like this. Whether you decide to get rid of the baby, or even just to give it to someone who can raise it, you deserve a better life than this, Emma Swan."

Emma's eyes prickled with tears.

"And since its clear no one but your Mr Neal has ever seen fit to take care of you, I'm just gonna have to do it until he gets back," the woman smiled. "You're gonna come home and live with me until you make a choice about this baby and get back on your feet."

"I can't do that!" Emma exclaimed. "I can't put you in that position!"

"You ain't puttin' me into anything. All my babies are grown and have their own lives all over God's green earth, it will be nice to have someone runnin' about and makin' noise. Now run along and go get your things, we will get you settled in at my place and then we'll go talk to this Mr Neal of yours," Marybeth said. "If he is even half the man you tell me he is, he will be thrilled."

"It's a six hour drive to get to the penitentiary he is in…"

"Well what luck it is Friday. We'll make a weekend of it."

Emma's jaw nearly fell through the bottom of the car. This wasn't happening. Surely this woman couldn't be serious.

"Yes I am serious and stop over thinkin' this, Swan," Marybeth smirked as though she had read Emma's mind. "Now go get your things before I change my mind and fix my empty nest syndrome with a poodle instead."

Emma snapped out of her stupor and hopped out of the car before taking off into a bold run for the half way house. Maybe Neal had been right. Maybe it was going to be ok.

… - … - …

Neal would be the first to admit that he was surprised when the guard had turned up at his cell to say he had a pair of visitors. If it was that August dude again he was going to deck him. Damned the fact it'd earn him six more months in here. Thankfully the prison was low security and Neal was mostly able to come and go around the building with his work group. They offered different classes for the inmates to "better themselves" as the teachers had said, so Neal had spent the time snatching up every course he could get his hands on. The computer and carpenter classes seemed the most interesting to him despite their opposite nature. Maybe by the time he got out of here he'd have some kind of useful skill to get a job with so he could take care of Emma. He didn't care what August said, he was going to make sure Emma had a great life. Not one living out of a car and stealing but a real life.

The guard led Neal to a small room that locked from the outside when they closed the door. As the guard began removing the cuffs from Neal's wrists he rattled off the rules.

"Alright, Cassidy, here's the deal. You have one hour, but you can cut it short it you want to. We will pat you down before you get taken back to make sure they didn't slip you anything, and if you do anything stupid we'll take you down, got that?"

"Got it."

The guard nodded and led Neal through the second door of the room. It opened up into another room that was painted an awful shade of green and a table with some chairs around it. Two women sat at the table waiting for him. Neal lit up like Christmas as he recognized the smaller of the two.

"Emma!" he exclaimed and rushed over to her. Emma leapt into his arms, kissing him soundly before holding him tightly. Neal breathed in deep, god how he had missed the smell of her hair and the feeling of her in his arms. A stray tear slipped down his cheek.

"Orange is so not your color," she muttered into his chest.

Neal laughed heartily for the first time in months, "Baby, what are you doing here? I thought they took the car?"

"They did," Emma said. "Marybeth brought me."

"Mary who?"

"That would be me, Mr Cassidy."

Neal finally took notice of the other woman still sitting at the table. She looked friendly, like how he imagined a beloved grandmother would be, with a slightly rounded face and kind blue eyes. He wondered off handedly if there were cookies and some knitting in her bag.

"Marybeth Parkins, Mr Cassidy," she said as she stuck her hand out for him to shake. "I'm a friend of Emma's, we work together."

"You got a job?" Neal beamed with pride down at his girlfriend.

"I volunteer at the hospital Marybeth works at," Emma blushed. "It's not a real job."

"We'll see about that on Monday," Marybeth smiled. "Now Emma, I believe there was something you needed to tell Neal?"

Emma went stiff in his arms and Neal looked down at her worriedly.

"Em?" he asked. "What wrong?"

The blond sighed and stepped back a bit. "You may want to sit down for this, Neal…"

Neal did NOT like the sound of that. Not at all.

**TBC**

**A/N: So I have had this story idea rolling around in my brain for awhile about what would have happened in Neal had stuck by Emma. Hopefully you guys like it! R&R**

**~Chupip**


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